With the sixth stage of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge set to ride through Boulder on Saturday -- and bring as many as 100,000 spectators into town -- the city has a number of closures on tap, beginning Friday.

The following city facilities, trail areas and roads will be closed for the event:

Friday closures

Pearl Street from 15th to 20th streets will be closed beginning at noon, and 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th streets will be closed one-half block north and south of Pearl Street.

The Pearl Street Mall loop will remain open and access to the parking garage at 15th and Pearl streets will remain open.

Baseline Road will be closed to everyone but residents at Sixth Street beginning at 5 p.m.

There also will be no access to Open Space and Mountain Parks properties in the Flagstaff area after 5 p.m. This closure includes all property and trails west of Sixth Street, north of Gregory Canyon -- including the Gregory Canyon trail -- and south of Boulder Canyon and east of Chapman Drive.

Saturday road closures

Pearl Street will be closed from 15th Street to Folsom Avenue starting at 6 a.m.

17th Street will be closed for the entire day from Canyon Boulevard to Spruce Street. Vehicles traveling east and west on Walnut Street will be able to cross the intersection at 17th Street. All other intersections will be closed.

Starting at 6 a.m., Spruce Street will be closed from Broadway to 17th Street. Southbound vehicles will be able to cross Spruce Street at 14th Street, and local traffic will be able to cross at 16th Street.

Starting at 6 a.m., westbound Baseline Road from Broadway to Flagstaff Road will be closed except to local traffic at the Broadway and Baseline intersection.

Starting at 10 a.m., 20th Street between Baseline Road and Cascade Avenue will be closed.

In addition to these full-time street closures, there will be periodic closures of numerous roadways along the USA Pro Cycling Challenge race route, including U.S. 36 and state highways 7, 72, 93 and 119. These closures typically will take between 15 and 45 minutes, as the caravan of race riders, support vehicles and police escorts traverse the course.

The main Boulder Public Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave., will be closed. All other branch libraries will be open regular hours.

Chautauqua Park will be open, but there will be no public parking within the Chautauqua area. The dining hall will be open.

Flagstaff access

After 7 a.m. Saturday, the public may begin accessing the Flagstaff area on foot using the Viewpoint Trail and by foot or bike using Flagstaff Road. No bikes will be allowed north of Realization Point on Summit Road. Bike corrals will be available at multiple points on Flagstaff Road.

Bus service

The Regional Transportation District will increase bus service to Boulder to provide more transit options for race spectators, and the HOP will provide free bus service within Boulder on Aug. 25. Service will be doubled for RTD's BV route and on the BOLT to Longmont. RTD route information is available at rtd-denver.com.

Boulder is pretty good at producing rock bands, and by "rock," we mean the in-your-face, guitar-heavy, leather-clad variety — you know, the good kind. For a prime example, look no farther than BANDITS. Full Story